Beautiful ‘Bridge
The work of Knockbridge Tidy Towns has been, understandably, curtailed as a result of the public health restrictions currently in place due to COVID-19. Does that mean that nothing has been happening in one of the seven medal winning centres in Louth in the National Tidy Towns Competition? Absolutely not!
Like all Tidy Towns committees Knockbridge have found new and innovative ways to keep the village and its environs looking its best. Long serving Secretary of the Tidy Towns Committee, Marian Scanlon, explained ‘we tried out a few new ideas to get people engaging with the Tidy Towns programme and discovered that while many people may not be interested in actually joining a committee they are nevertheless willing to do their bit to keep their local community looking well’
.One such innovative approach was The Twenty Twenty Community Vision which encouraged local residents to create new beds in their own gardens and, in many cases, ‘adopt’ a community landscaping feature close to their home for planting and maintenance. This generated quite a bit of positivity and was a great help during the period that the local Community Employment Scheme and TUS Scheme couldn’t operate due to the restrictions. The Tidy Towns Committee is obviously delighted that both schemes are back in operation and catching up on maintenance issues that couldn’t be attended to in recent weeks.
One area currently the subject of maintenance is Stephenstown Pond Nature Park, a very popular amenity in the county that attracts significant visitor numbers annually.
Unfortunately it had to temporarily close as a result of the restrictions but the Scheme workers are busily getting it into good shape for reopening. In addition to maintenance some improvement works are also being carried out with a significant portion of the pathways being refurbished thanks to a successful grant application under the Outdoor Recreation Scheme.
Work had commenced on this project earlier in the year and the good news in that, with construction activity recommenced, it will be possible to complete this first stage of the refurbishment of the overall pathway improvement project very soon. The committee will
be hoping to source further funding at a later date to complete the overall refurbishment of the pathways.
Earth Day didn’t go uncelebrated in Knockbridge this year and while celebrations had to be somewhat different they were nonetheless effective when on April 22nd individual members of the community collected litter in the core village area and in approach roads leading to many bags of accumulated roadside litter being properly disposed of.
Residents Associations are also playing their part in ensuring the village looks well and with four key housing estates in the village Lisroland, Cloonanna, Loughantarve and Knockattin this is a great boost to the overall presentation of the area. Like other Tidy Towns communities the switch to favour perennial planting in recent years is having positive impact in Knockbridge although the committee is planning some pops of summer colour through container planting to add further impact.
The pump area in the village centre is looking particularly well following the input of a nearby householder, the Marian Shrine has been the subject of recent maintenance and this combined with the appearance of the regal Church and the presentation of individual businesses and residential properties highlights that Knockbridge is making every effort to remain in the upper echelons of the competition when the National Tidy Towns Competition returns in 2021!